14 DAY TRIAL // After months of teasers and leaks, Lenovo has finally made the official introduction of its IdeaPad Yoga family of convertible tablets with hinges that can rotate at an angle of 360 degrees.
Notebooks usually have a maximum angle that the hinge can withstand, beyond which it is impossible to push the display without damaging the product.
Lenovo has officially introduced one of the few exceptions to this trend: the IdeaPad Yoga 13 and IdeaPad Yoga 11, with hinges that can rotate the screen to 360 degrees.
The numbers in the names stand for the display sizes, but there is more than that distinguishing between the two.
The former, as a 13-inch convertible device, is powered by an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 Ivy Bridge central processing unit (CPU), as well as a maximum 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD.
The IPS LCD has a native resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels and multitouch support, but Yoga 13 also has a motion detection technology that can flip through photos or other things just by interpreting hand movements.
Needless to say, the device runs Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, which will be launched on the 26, this month (October 2012).
Meanwhile, the IdeaPad Yoga 11 uses an NVIDIA Tegra 3 SoC (ARM-powered) and an HD LCD (1366 x 768 pixels), plus 2GB of RAM, up to 64GB of internal storage and, strangely enough, a USB 2.0 port, not 3.0.
"The IdeaPad Yoga 11 is elegant, thin and light, combining the convenience of a tablet with the capability of a laptop," said Rene Haas, vice president, Notebook Business Unit, NVIDIA.
"Powered by the energy-efficient Tegra 3 processor, the Yoga 11 lets you work and stay connected all day long – and leave your laptop charger at home."
IdeaPad Yoga 13 will ship from October 26 onwards, for $1,099 / 1,099 Euro, but pre-orders will begin in two days (October 12). Yoga 11 will ship in December though, for $799 / 799 Euro or more. We're not sure what Lenovo is thinking by choosing such high tags, but we guess it can afford a gamble with the success it's been having. At least they aren't as absurd as that of the ModBook Pro.